South Africa’ s image as a neutral party was last week shattered when it tried to introduce a resolution at the UN that made no mention of Russia. Pretoria’s proposed resolution on providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine was defeated in the UN General Assembly because it did not blame Russia for the humanitarian crisis.
Instead, the Assembly overwhelmingly approved – by 140 to five votes – a resolution introduced by Ukraine which squarely attributed the blame to Moscow. Legalbrief reports that it only Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea joined Russia in opposing the resolution. There were 38 abstentions from the resolution on providing humanitarian aid, including Russia’s ally China.
Unusually, the Assembly, after adopting Ukraine’s resolution, then voted on South Africa ‘s text, which excluded any reference to Russia to try to win Moscow’s approval and ensure that humanitarian aid could be delivered. The Daily Maverick reports that Pretoria’s resolution was defeated by a vote of 50 for to 67 against.
South Africa’s representatives said the vote on their resolution had to be assessed in light of the fact that many nations had not bothered to vote at all after Ukraine’s resolution had been adopted. They said the South African text largely followed Ukraine’s, apart from not mentioning Russia. Full Daily Maverick report
A proposed investment in a planned energy deal could explain SA’s pro-Kremlin stance, notes a report on the News24 site. The investments pale in comparison to existing trade deals with the West and Europe, but few believe historic ties between the ANC and the Soviet Union, which no longer exists, are driving the loyalty to Vladimir Putin.
A proposed R7bn gas plant in Nelson Mandela Bay, a manganese mine in the Kalahari and an innovative iron processing plant in Limpopo have one thing in common – Russian money.
United Manganese of Kalahari is part-owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg through an opaque Cyprus-based trust, New African Manganese Investments, and was the first company in decades granted prospecting rights on land mostly owned by the state. It has become SA’s fourth-largest manganese miner and, in 2021, donated R5m to the ruling ANC.
While this may form part of the broader explanation for SA’s pro-Kremlin stance, it is believed there may be more deals or further ties that are not yet publicly known. A post on the Russian Embassy’s website estimates that the accumulated Russian investment in SA is $1.5bn while SA companies – including Naspers – have roughly $5bn invested in Russia. Full report on the News24 site
Due to the Ukrainian conflict and soaring gas prices, SA wants to urgently secure access to vast amounts of natural gas. The Central Energy Fund (CEF) released a tender last month, looking for a gas aggregator to help secure liquified natural gas for various gas-to-power projects planned for the Coega special economic zone in the Eastern Cape.
amaBhungane has confirmed that SOCAR, the state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan, and Gazprombank, which is owned by Russia’s state-owned natural gas supplier Gazprom, are contemplating bids. Shell, which was expected to be a front-runner for the gas aggregator tender, has confirmed that it will not bid. The CEF is leaving it up to bidders to suggest a business model that will work, with the successful oil and gas company either taking an equity stake in the business, or merely providing technical advice to the new state-owned gas trading entity. Full Daily Maverick report
In other developments, Egypt has asked for help from the IMF as the government struggles to deal with the impact of the war in Ukraine. As the world’s biggest importer of wheat, Egypt relies heavily on grain from both Ukraine and Russia.
As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, it has set a fixed price for unsubsidised bread with the aim of controlling rising food prices due to the disruption to the wheat supply caused by the war. Its tourism sector has also suffered a further setback, after two years of problems linked to the pandemic.
A Ahram Online report notes that Cairo confirmed that it requested discussions with the IMF about a new programme that ‘possibly includes additional financing’ to support the country’s plans for comprehensive economic reforms. Cabinet’s announcement was preceded by an IMF statement saying its staff are working closely with the authorities ‘to prepare for programme discussions with a view to supporting our shared goals of economic stability and sustainable, job-rich, and inclusive medium-term growth for Egypt’. The government last week allowed the currency to devalue. IMF statement Full report on the Ahram Online site
The war is also a burning issue in Zimbabwe which heavily relies on Eastern nations, including Russia, China, Belarus and Singapore for trade. With wheat prices are up nearly 15% from Z$119 000 ($595) to Z$136 544 ($682) per metric ton, residents have to pay more for bread.
A News24 report notes that the rising fuel and bread prices have in turn triggered a wave of price hikes of basic commodities around the country, worsening the situation for many Zimbabweans who are already grappling with widespread poverty amid stagnant salaries, uncontrolled inflation due to economic mismanagement and corruption by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Government. Full report on the News24 site